


Office!fic: A Series of Curious Events

by sakesushimaki



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: 308 Gap Filler, M/M, Office, POV Outsider, Romance, Workplace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-15
Updated: 2011-10-15
Packaged: 2017-10-24 15:57:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/265323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakesushimaki/pseuds/sakesushimaki





	Office!fic: A Series of Curious Events

Mona liked her job—really, she did. She got to be with a prestigious agency, she was a part of a really talented art department and her salary wasn’t bad either. Nevertheless, for the past couple of days, she’d been feeling frustrated and disappointed with her workplace.

All because she saw something. And in the name of fairness, she was not going to keep quiet about it. No. She was going to tell.

 

::

 

It all started two weeks ago, when they got a new intern.

“Everyone, this is Justin Taylor,” Joe announced. “He’s interning at Vanguard and he’s gonna work here at the art department with us for the time being. He’s here to help with the busy work and to learn, not to be sent on coffee tours, alright?”

It was borderline crazy how everyone seemed to add to Justin’s fanbase right away. Mona wasn’t one to cheer for the popular people normally, but Justin was… really _nice_. Funny and talented on top of that.

Mr. Kinney, on the other hand, didn’t seem to take to the new intern one bit. Sure, nobody in their right mind had ever accused him of being friendly, but the instant dislike was strange. Justin himself seemed to have issues with him in return, and acted somewhat snotty and disinterested around him. While Mr. Kinney usually had more or less valid reasons to threaten or yell at the employees, his motives for running down Justin were rather questionable. Yet, he kept provoking Justin, as if he was trying to make the guy prove something.

Like when one hour before a presentation, Mr. Kinney wanted to have the needed boards changed for the fifth time.

“I don’t get what’s so complicated about this, Taylor. What the hell are they teaching you at your fancy art school?” The whole room was a field of tension as everybody went back to their work discreetly.

“I understand that opinions can change, but the changes you request now are exactly what I did with the last design.”

“And just where might this glorious design of yours be?”

“In your garbage can, where you threw it after ripping it apart, _Mr. Kinney_.”

“You’re nothing if not incompetent, Taylor.”

“Of course. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go reprint the old design.”

“Exactly. And while you do that make sure to press the button that says—”

“Oh, shut up.” With that, Justin snagged the _“eye-raping, Taylor”_ mock-up out of Brian’s hand and just walked away, leaving everyone staring after him.

What _really_ gave Mona to think, though, was the fact that Mr. Kinney hadn’t looked remotely as shocked as you’d have expected him to.

 

::

 

Mona was enjoying her second — that little one didn’t count — piece of cake with extra sprinkles, the one she battled away from Justin in a Rock-Paper-Scissors showdown, and laughing at Jacob’s lame joke. They were having a mini-birthday celebration for Joe in the employees’ kitchen and just goofing around.

Tracy, the poor gal filling in for Mr. Kinney’s sick assistant, breezed in, explaining she had to get coffee to the conference room. The partners were having an important meeting, never mind that they titled _every_ meeting _important_.

“Fuck!” Tracy’s eyes were wide as she stared at the milk carton in her hand. “I forgot that Mr. Kinney only drinks low-fat.” She yanked the fridge door open, but no surprises were revealed. There were still only the same three cartons of whole milk in there.

She was offered cake and a couple of pats on the shoulder before she sighed, “Well, what’s one more tirade today. I handled the first three.”

“Use the whole milk, he won’t notice.” That didn’t exactly earn Justin approval and Tracy gave him a weak smile. “I’m serious, he won’t,” he insisted.

“Justin, he will.”

“Just use a little less milk and add a tiny bit of water and it will be okay. Trust me.”

Mona had no idea why Justin felt so secure in his evaluation, but seeing the confident look on his face, she felt herself agreeing. Tracy seemed to, as well. She did as he said, and went home with only three pink slip threats under her fake Gucci belt.

 

::

 

Justin didn’t come to work on Thursday or Friday of the next week, after — as it was rumored — he pissed Mr. Kinney off over the Eyeconic Optics campaign. He was back on Monday, though. As if nothing happened.

Mona was fighting with the giant of a copying machine when she heard Joe, the head of the art department, talking in the hallway.

“Don’t take it too personally, he’s… well, _impulsive_.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Well, I’m glad we get to keep you, Justin.”

“Me, too. Thanks, Joe.”

“Was he very hard on you?”

“Oh,... yeah.”

Mona got an idea of kicking the machine and voilà, it finally started spitting out her copies. She didn’t hear the rest of the conversation over the noise.

 

::

 

The same week, it became obvious that the wind of Mr. Kinney’s temper had changed. Drastically. One would think Mary Poppins was in town.

For instance, he was down here more often. And surprisingly, that fact didn’t equal a bad thing. He actually came with words of praise once or twice — his own version of praise, mind you — but mostly to _“check on things”_.

There was this one time, it was the day the CLIO Awards nominations were announced, when Mr. Kinney came down just after they’d all come back from a celebratory lunch. Considering that both nominated entries were developed after his concepts and under his watch, Mr. Kinney was in an exceptional mood as well. The obligatory mutual congrats were exchanged and times of working on these campaigns were reminisced.

Mona couldn’t help it, once again she was watching Justin closely. She was either developing an unhealthy obsession or paranoia, or there was really something weird going on. Right now, for example, the guy was beaming as if some of _his_ work had been nominated.

If anything, you’d think he would be sulking about the sudden lack of attention. After all, he’d been the main recipient of praise for the past weeks. The thing was, Justin really wasn’t like that. Mona had realized that a couple of days ago already, when Louise from accounting dropped a comment as to _“the wunderkind routine getting old”_.

He didn’t even tone that smile down as he approached Mr. Kinney. “Congratulations. That is an amazing—”

And then Colin decided to use that exact moment to hit on Mona. Which was funny, considering she spent the better part of her first six months at Vanguard entertaining a naive crush on him and dropping hints. Of course he had to take an interest in her _now, after_ she had long ago realized what a douchebag he was. Mona managed to tune him out for a minute, so she could listen to the end of another conversation.

“…the prize. So, I’ll see you about those layouts in an hour?”

“Definitely.” Justin’s grin got even wider.

And Mr. Kinney? He just smiled back.

 

::

 

Ultimately, it was the janitor’s angry mumbling about _“feckin’ condoms in the rubbish”_ that set Mona off.

The day following that revelation, she stayed late. Just like Justin had been doing for the last couple of days. She waited until there was no one on their floor except for Justin and her before she took her leave. She strategically placed the cell phone she was going to come back for in twenty minutes under a few sheets of paper.

Mona was a perfectionist and as such, she went all the way to her car, waited a couple of minutes even, before — Oh, what a klutz she was — noticing that her phone was missing. She took the elevator back up to the third floor and was walking quietly towards her workspace when she heard… _noises_. A peek around the corner confirmed what her mind had been telling her.

And Joe had gotten that sofa only two weeks ago. It was his _“inspirational retreat”_ in the far back of the room. A retreat alright.

All Mona really saw was the back and ass of her boss as he kneeled on the sofa facing the wall. He moved back and forth, muscles rippling, skin shiny with sweat. A moan, and the body in front of him slammed back, blond hair now visible against the tan shoulder.

Yeah, she was totally telling somebody about this. She wasn’t a bitch or anything; it was just unfair. She’d worked hard all her life to get somewhere — okay, except maybe for that one year where she completely slacked off in college — and this kid paraded in here, fucking his way into and possibly _up_ the company.

She was startled by loud grunts, a contrast to the previous panting and low moans. Mona didn’t know why, but her eyes focused in on the fingers that now clawed into the back of the sofa. That hand and the top of the blond head were still the only parts she could see of Justin, his body blanketed by Mr. Kinney’s.

They stopped moving then and all she could hear was their mingled, heavy breathing and soft smacking noises that she was sure had something to do with how Mr. Kinney’s head angled against Justin’s.

A breathless “Brian!” gave Mona goosebumps and she watched how a slightly bigger hand covered the one clawing into the upholstery. The bodies began to move again, slowly, accompanied by moans and— …she had to get out of there.

“Fuck, I missed this,” were the last words she heard. The growl that followed her into the elevator sounded like agreement.

Sans cell phone and the weekly Wednesday call to her mom, but with the image of her boss and the intern going at it, Mona went to bed that night. Her cat was expelled from the bedroom because it kept looking at her weirdly.

 

::

 

Mona’s chance came only two days later, when she met Mr. Vance in the elevator. And through one of those crazy coincidences the world lived by, he actually asked after the new intern—whether he was doing decent work and doing what he was told.

If she was honest, she’d have to say that he did great work, was helpful, and very eager to learn. But that was not the point.

“Well, Mr. Vance,—”

“Can you believe Brian wanted to fire him the day he started?” Vance chuckled.

“Uhm.” No.

“He wanted him gone as soon as he learned about his being hired. There was something else after our pitch to Eyeconic Optics, but they seem to get along now.”

Ha! That’s the exact prompt she needed. She just had to make some snide remark as to how well they got along and Vance would get the hint, grow suspicious at least. If only Mona’s mind weren’t so busy trying to puzzle the new pieces of information together.

Too soon the elevator doors glided open on the parking garage floor and Mr. Vance was already striding towards his car that was parked in the spot no ten meters away from the entrance.

Okay, so she’d missed her chance. Still, she was going to say something—she would just wait for the right moment. _Another_ right moment. Mona found her car at least a hundred meters away and drove home.

When her little trusty Toyota rattled to a halt at a red light, she fished around in her bag. She needed a chocolate fix and thought she remembered a Snickers bar somewhere in there. Ah, there it was. She didn’t even remember where—oh, right. Justin, of all people, had brought it from the vending machine. He probably tried to suck up to her. Or something. Not that she had anything to say around the office and sucking up to her would be of any use, but still.

An old receipt stuck to the chocolate wrapping. Unfolding it, she remembered how three months ago, she got the raise she was rooting for and how later on she found out that the needed _higher-ups’ approval_ came from Mr. Kinney. Mona had worked her ass off for the year she’d been there at that point and felt validated and appreciated. The first extra 90 bucks a month were spent on ridiculously pretty shoes that, miraculously, didn’t even give her blisters. She also remembered last Tuesday, when Justin, only having been there for just over a week, totally saved her ass when she was swamped with work. Huh. Well.

Watching the bustle in the parking zone outside the overpriced grocery store, Mona thought of the contents of her own fridge, or lack thereof. She took another bite of the chocolate-peanut goodness and decided to order takeout tonight. Chinese. Or Thai, maybe. Definitely Asian, though.

She wondered if there were many classic Corvettes driving around Pittsburgh as she spotted the car further down in the parking row. But obviously, there weren’t. Mr. Kinney opened the trunk and put the bag of groceries in. He turned to look back and leaned against the car. Mona was about to dismiss the scene when— _he_ came into view. Justin put the bag he was carrying into the trunk as well. He must’ve said something funny because Bria—Mr. Kinney laughed and reached a gloved hand out and grabbed Justin’s coat to pull him in. They kissed, and Mona could faintly see their breath rising in misty clouds in the cold air.

Watching them, she almost forgot to chew. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. Not as Mr. Kinney’s arms came around Justin, nor as newly ungloved fingers slid into the blond hair. They were—

A car behind her honked.

Mona stuffed the remaining half of the Snickers bar into her mouth and stepped on the pedals. Crossing the intersection, she threw one quick look into the rearview-mirror to make sure the two men hadn’t noticed the stalker colleague in the shabby Toyota. But she needn’t have worried. They were still tangled in each other, the trunk door still sticking up in the air behind them.

…Okay, so maybe she wasn’t going to tell.


End file.
